German baby food and dairy cooperative Humana has completed one of Europe’s biggest automated storage facilities for cheese and a new cheese slicing and packaging plant in Eastern Germany at Altentreptow (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern).

The move puts Humana Milchunion right up among the leaders in European cheese marketing.

Sliced cheese sales in 2002 by Humana’s cheese-specialist daughter firm Euro Cheese (labels Landhof, Golden Cheese, Casarelli) will top the 70,000 tonne mark for the first time, says the company. Humana is number three in the German dairy league in terms of turnover and the cooperative’s achievements last year (January to June) included sales representing 15% of the national market for sliced cheese.

Just over 13% of all cheese production is now exported, a trade that has helped boost the Humana total turnover from 1.68 billion euro in 2000 to an estimated 2.04 billion euro last year.

Steady investment and expansion in 2001 and 2002 – the company’s yogurt exports to Russia now represent 21% of all German exports in this sector to that country – has not stopped Humana from continuing its consolidation programme at home. Here the aim is to keep products under a few very high-profile labels.

The acquired private dairy Borgmann, for example, which last year supplied around 8% of the Humana turnover with its milk and milk products, is being merged this year into the much better known Ravensberger label. Ravensberger has been particularly successful in the drinking milk and butter sectors with 15% of the German market in fresh milk, 17% in the UHT product and 16% in butter. In special sectors such as premium butter sold in tubs and unsalted butter rolls Ravensburger is proving unbeatable on the home market with 51% and 40% market share respectively.

Built on the basis of over a half-century success in worldwide marketing of Humana baby and diet foods, the south German dairy cooperative has also expanded into the functional food sector with the launch last year of Humana Vital a new label for foods based mainly on whey.